National Family Planning training to be offered

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SALT LAKE CITY — The Diocese of Salt Lake City is seeking individuals interested in becoming certified as Natural Family Planning practitioners. They must be willing to commit to counseling engaged couples preparing for marriage in the diocese for a minimum of two years. In exchange, the diocese will cover the cost of training, which is approximately $5,500 per student.

Engaged couples who prepare for marriage in the diocese are required to, at minimum, take a one-hour introduction to NFP.

“The Catholic Church strongly promotes natural family planning because it is part of our beliefs,” said Crystal Painter, director of the diocesan Office of Marriage & Family Life. “At the diocese, marriage preparation is a big part of our pastoral plan. Forming our couples to make sure they understand Catholic teachings and that they have the ability to learn how to use their bodies – it’s our responsibility as a diocese to provide those resources.”

NFP methods are based on the observation of the naturally occurring signs and symptoms of the fertile and infertile phases of a woman’s menstrual cycle. Natural Family Planning is the only method approved by the Church for spacing births.

“In accord with the personal and fully human character of conjugal love, family planning fittingly takes place as the result of a consensual dialogue between the spouses, respect for times and consideration of the dignity of the partner,” Pope Francis stated in Amoris Laetitia, his encyclical on the family.

“The use of methods based on the ‘laws of nature and the incidence of fertility’ are to be promoted, since ‘these methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them and favor the education of an authentic freedom’” he wrote, quoting Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae as well as the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The upcoming educational program will be run by FertilityCare Services Limited Educational Programs, led by Margaret P. Howard, MAM, CFCE. It will be sponsored by the Diocese of Salt Lake City Family Life Office. The program teaches the Creighton Model FertilityCare System, which is internationally recognized, consistent with Catholic teaching, approved by the USCCB and accredited by the American Academy of FertilityCare Professionals. It adheres to the AAFCP Code of Ethics and provides students the educational background to become eligible for AAFCP certification.

The diocese partners with Dr. Joseph Stanford, MD, CFCMC, at Intermountain Fertility Care Services to train and maintain NFP practitioners. Currently, there are about five NFP practitioners in the area. The diocese is looking for an additional five to seven students for this program and is particularly interested in signing up bilingual students.

The 60-hour course will be held July 9-16 at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Salt Lake City. Students will be responsible for a $50 application fee, room and board (if needed), their own dinner each night (breakfast and lunch are included) and teaching supplies of approximately $450. The weeklong training will be followed by a practicum held remotely over several weeks. A second phase of the training will be offered early next year, followed by another practicum.

Those who are interested may email Painter at Crystal.Painter@dioslc.org for information.